05-05-2004, 09:40 AM
Another new one to try:
Name all the animals by Alison Smith
While her devoutly catholic parents wrestle with their faith and their grief, Alison makes visitors coffee, goes back to school, and - being all her parents have left - copes.
Or so she tells herself. Alongside the life people see run her private rituals of mourning - she hoards food for her brother, and hides in the garden fort they'd built together, waiting for him to return.
Eventually, Alison finds her own way to survive: a startling taboo first love that helps her discover a world beyond being "the girl whose brother died". And whose raw shocks bring her up against the fact that she really hasn't coped at all.
So this is in part a book about grief - living with it and failing to recognise it - but it is also a love story: about Alison's love of her brother, of her childhood, and finally of life. NAME ALL THE ANIMALS is a beautiful, absolutely compelling portrait of innocence struggling with loss.
Name all the animals by Alison Smith
While her devoutly catholic parents wrestle with their faith and their grief, Alison makes visitors coffee, goes back to school, and - being all her parents have left - copes.
Or so she tells herself. Alongside the life people see run her private rituals of mourning - she hoards food for her brother, and hides in the garden fort they'd built together, waiting for him to return.
Eventually, Alison finds her own way to survive: a startling taboo first love that helps her discover a world beyond being "the girl whose brother died". And whose raw shocks bring her up against the fact that she really hasn't coped at all.
So this is in part a book about grief - living with it and failing to recognise it - but it is also a love story: about Alison's love of her brother, of her childhood, and finally of life. NAME ALL THE ANIMALS is a beautiful, absolutely compelling portrait of innocence struggling with loss.